Our next visit on the island of Sal was to Shark Bay, or Baia da Parda. It's located on the northeastern coast of Sal Island and near the village of Pedra le Lume. It's a large very shallow bay where Lemon Sharks deliver their babies. The momma sharks have their babies here where they are protected in the shallow water. The momma sharks are still farther out in the bay. The baby sharks live in the shallows of this bay for a year or more.

Lemon sharks often return to specific nursery sites for breeding, and this is one of those sites. Lemon sharks are known for their sleek, grey bodies and their distinctive fins. It was fun to stand in the shallows and have them swimming all around us. It was an up-close-and-personal experience. Vicky was a little tentative walking out into the bay.

Our local guides told us that the Lemon Sharks wouldn't harm us, but they did say not to dangle our fingers in the water. You can see how close they got to us as I took the photo with my foot in it. On occasion, they would brush past our legs.

Vicky turned full of confidence in no time and we both really enjoyed the experience. You can see a shark in the bottom left corner of the photo with Vicky.

Both Sal and Santiago Islands had been so clean and devoid of trash that I was surprised by what I saw (below) as we left Shark Bay. I asked our driver about all the garbage along the coast. Our local guide said it was indeed a problem for them. He said that they did an extensive study last year and they found garbage from 25 different countries in the trash collected from the coast here. That's a sad commentary and not reflective of the people on Sal Island.